This deck is very simple in strategy, yet extremely fun to play. I initially built the rough draft of it after being told that Kemba could never be competitive. I set out to prove them wrong. I have done so. It comes down to just five steps:
Cast Kemba, Kha Regent as quickly as possible, as soon as she can instantly be given hexproof with Swiftfoot Boots or Champion's Helm, shroud with Lightning Greaves, or protection from Mother of Runes. The speed of this depends on if your opponent has mana untapped when she comes out.
Get to drawing some cards! Puresteel Paladin is the most ideal draw engine, but
Mentor of the Meek
also does some business a little later in the game. Add
Mask of Memory
to the mix and you're drawing cards in response to all kinds of shenanigans. As for searching your library, we have
Enlightened Tutor
to find any artifact or enchantment that suits us at the moment, Stoneforge Mystic to search for that perfect equipment for the situation, and Sword of the Animist to both get more land on the field and to keep from wasting your draws on late game land.
Cast as many exile/prevention spells as necessary to keep Kemba and yourself safe while building up your lion army. Path to Exile, Condemn, and Swords to Plowshares all deny your opponent's creatures the right to even exist.
Revoke Existence
and
Fate Forgotten
can take out non-creatures. Ghostly Prison keeps your life total safe. As for prevention, you've got Grand Abolisher, Silence, Orim's Chant,
Shield of the Avatar
, and Ethersworn Canonist. Meanwhile, hitting any of the instants with an Isochron Scepter locks the board down even more, no matter which one it is (preferably Orim's Chant, but I'm not picky).
Pump Kemba while waiting to get enough cats tokens out to swing for lethal. Basilisk Collar gives lifelink and deathtouch,
Neurok Hoversail
grants flying, Darksteel Plate gives indestructible (and is hard to get rid of!), Trailblazer's Boots and Prowler's Helm keep her near-unblockable,Stoneforge Masterwork makes her bigger as the game goes, and
Konda's Banner
makes your army of 2/2 cats into 4/4 lions.
Sai of the Shinobi
are great to have early game, and Leonin Shikari helps you to equip at instant speed. (Leonin Shikari + Puresteel Paladin
= amazing times with equipment. Sigarda's Aid is also incredibly useful for boosting equipment casting speed.
Once you have enough tokens to get through your opponents defenses, or once Kemba is large enough and unblockable to swing for lethal, or even if you sacrifice Glaring Spotlight to make your army unblockable, swing for the win and brace for a table flip.
After seeing the incredibly powerful Geist of Saint taft decks floating around, I've also made a slot for Arcane Lighthouse in my sideboard. Rage-inducing matches will be had by all.
I took a previous build of this deck to my LGS's first Tiny Leaders tournament and walked away with 4th place (stupid Ezuri...). I've since tweaked it and refined it to make it more efficient and much more deadly. It's an incredibly fun deck to play, and the first of it's kind as far as I know (I'm probably wrong on that one, but I haven't seen another Kemba Tiny Leader deck that wasn't pure voltron. Big mistake I think.) It's definitely competitive, though not sure how it will fare against Tier 1 decks. Only thing it seems to do poorly with is extreme aggro, but that doesn't appear in my meta too often.
THINGS TO NOT SUGGEST:
Ajani, Caller of the Pride: Yes, he puts out tons of cats. But he's also really slow and not much help until that point. By the time I can pop him off, I'd have enough tokens to end the game anyway.
The Mirrodin block swords: They are indeed amazing equipments, but do not work in this deck. Pulling Sword of Fire and Ice while playing against Ezuri, Renegade Leader is a dead draw. Protection against random colors and abilities that don't help much added to the fact that I'm trying to keep three cost cards down to a minimum.
Oblivion Ring
, Banisher Priest, Fiend Hunter, etc: Basically any targeted removal where they might get their card back if they destroy something. Not useful.
Steelshaper's Gift: It's a great card, but no more room to be had. Already have two tutors, don't need a third.
Loxodon Warhammer: This was in my rough draft and always had a hard time with it. Costs too much mana in a deck where Kemba doesn't swing much anyway.
Whispersilk Cloak: Already running a shroud card, would like to avoid another. Unblockable doesn't mean much if you can't equip additional pump spells onto her.
Godsend: It's awesome, but it's not for this deck. I focus on getting cats and protecting Kemba. The slot for this is taken by
Konda's Banner
Any other comments and/ or suggestions are welcome! Thanks for checking this out! Be sure to give it a +1 if you like the brew!
